Burress indicted on gun charges

Published 6:31 pm, Monday, August 31, 2009

NEW YORK -- A grand jury voted to indict former New York Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress Monday morning on two counts of criminal possession of a weapon and one count of reckless endangerment.

The two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, a Class C violent felony, each carry a minimum of 3Â½ years in state prison and a maximum of 15 years. The sentences would be imposed concurrently.

The jury voted no true bill against Giants linebacker Antonio Pierce, which means there will be no charges filed against him. No arraignment date in state supreme court has been set for Burress.

Burress, 31, shot himself in the leg with a .40 caliber Glock pistol inside a Manhattan nightclub on Nov. 29, 2008. He was not licensed to carry or own a pistol in New York nor in New Jersey, where he lives. Pierce was at the night club at the time but not in the VIP area where Burress shot himself. The linebacker arranged for the transportation of Burress' gun and magazine back to his own home before arranging for it to be returned to Burress the next day.

Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau said he was pleased with the jury's decision.

"I think the grand jury received a lot of witnesses, a lot of exhibits," he said during a press conference in the Manhattan DA building. "They were conscientious and we abide by the decision of a grand jury."

Morgenthau said a night club security agent who retrieved the pistol the night of the shooting and accompanied Burress and Pierce to Pierce's car, parked about a block away, did not act criminally.

"This was not a crime that he committed," he said. "Bad judgment in the first degree, but not a crime."

Though the indictment came eight months after the incident, chief assistant district attorney Mark Dwyer said the case progressed at a standard speed.

"The case is a lot more complicated than your usual simple gun possession case where police find somebody with a gun in his waistband and it's open and shut," he said.

The standard plea bargain is two years, Dwyer said. Dwyer did not rule out the possibility of Burress and DA reaching a plea agreement in the future.